Maggie Pill Mysteries

  Book #4 of the Cats & Crime series is satisfying in that we get to know Lorilee's second ward, Wendy (once known as Birdy) better and find out more about her past. One of the joys of writing a series is finding characters that stand up and holler, "More about me, please!"  In the Sleuth Sisters series, a guy who was supposed to be only a goon sent to harass Barb and Faye became an ongoing character. With guidance from the sisters, his behavior improved immensely, and he became both helpful and likable. In this series, Greg, the neighbors' kid, is a brat, but he too changes as he matures. I don't know about other writers, but these are seldom planned events for me. I invent characters as needed for one story, but some of them seem to want to stick around for later episodes. Sometimes readers comment that they like this one or that one, which leads me to include them in later books.  Most, maybe all, of my characters begin as a hazy version of someone I've...

Here's where writers set themselves up. I liked the Once Upon a Trailer Park, Twice the Crime This Time , Third... idea in the titles, but that meant that the final book of Trailer Park Tales had to have THREE crimes. Talk about making work for myself! Throughout this series, I tried to showcase "types" of senior citizens (knowing of course that we are all unique and therefore never typical). One of our couples has been married forever, and they love each other dearly. That does not preclude anger at foibles, like leaving one's shoes in the way or spending too much time crafting. Another couple is newly married and still unsure of how to talk to each other. A third couple is dealing with the husband's decline in health, which changes a marriage in ways that can create stress. The fourth couple is adjusting to a new way of life after decades of working a farm, where there was always plenty to do. Secondary characters are the park complainers, those who think they s...

 Writer brains are weird. I had no intention of playing off the title of Book 1, Once Upon a Trailer Park, in the rest of the series, but it seemed inevitable to follow Once with Twice. That meant two crimes, so I came up with a cold case and a current one. Such stories require balance, so I needed lots of help to keep the details straight and both cases moving along. This is where long-time readers are a blessing. Many of them will read a rough (sometimes really rough) draft and make suggestions to help clarify events and pinpoint characters' motivations. It's hard to find readers who do this well. Many read purely for enjoyment, so they don't look for flaws in a story. A writer needs someone who reads with a critical eye--not to nitpick, but to tell her where the story cracks open because something doesn't add up. I read a mystery recently where a nationally known radio host revealed the name of a person she suspected of murder on her show without the slightest bit ...

  Book #3, Murder in the Boonies , is a bit of a tribute to my younger sister, who always wanted to have a farm where horses could retire in their old age. We lived only fifty miles or so from Mackinac Island as kids, and she was a horse lover from the get-go. To help out a friend who supplied the island with horses (and to please his 3 girls), our dad wintered horses from the island, feeding and caring for them until it was time for them to go back to pulling carts around the Victorian-themed dot off Michigan's eastern shore. My sister never got her wish for a horse retirement home, so I made it part of a book about missing parents and fringe-group plots. Writing this book required knowing a bit about reindeer, and here's where being a retired schoolteacher is a great advantage. I can always find a former student or coworker who is an expert on any topic, and I knew that two of our school's former bus drivers raised reindeer. They were generous with their time and willing ...

 The second book of the Cats & Crimes Mysteries is with the editor, so I had time to think about covers and such. Before I forget, we chose Esmeralda as the new cat's name, and we'll call her Esme for short. Thanks to all who made suggestions. Somewhere, I have the name of the person who suggested Esme, and she will get a free copy of the book when it's available. Now, as for the cover. Please tell me what you think, because I can ask for changes if something doesn't look right.

  Cat lovers love their cats, but sometimes we have to admit that they aren't all Einsteins. A relative adopted a stray who came to her door, a beautiful short-haired gray. It soon became obvious that he was either developmentally disabled or had had a traumatic head injury. The unkind would say that he was dumb, like Lorilee's Special Ed. The cat, which she called Dickie, could not learn and did not have an apparent thought process. He existed in the Now, and the Now was hungry and unhappy with where he was. If he was inside, Dickie wanted to be out. If he was outside, he wailed to come in, only to turn around and sit by the door, asking to go out again. Dickie liked his food cheap and smelly, and any time his hostess entered the kitchen, he became convinced he was starving. He'd go in and out between her feet until she gave him something--or pretended to. He'd follow her to the food dish, watch her mime dropping something into it, and look eagerly into the bowl when s...

Here are the answers to the newsletter quiz. If you don't get my newsletter, sign up for it! The NEWS in the newsletter is that THIRD CRIME'S THE CHARM releases on April 4th. HERE is the link to it on all major book-sellers' sites.

  The third Trailer Park Tale, THIRD CRIME'S THE CHARM, has taken its first baby step.  This time the folks at Beautiful Bird RV Park have to deal with (you guessed it) three crimes, the most serious one the disappearance of the local detective they've come to know a little. People don't just come to the park and vanish, but that's what Detective O'Connor apparently did. Of course the intrepid couples who solved the other crimes can't ignore this one, and as they investigate, they find two other suspicious situations. Once I have a manuscript sorta-kinda ready for someone else to read, I send it to what I think of as my First Editor. She's an intelligent reader who knows me well, and she reads through the (slightly rough) story to give me ideas about how things are going thus far. I respond to whatever comments she has, and I find that by the time she's had the book for a few weeks, I've got a few ideas of my own. (Nothing improves a writers view of ...

  The second Trailer Park Tale is available for pre-order everywhere I can manage it. So far I only have an Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HJHQ7D5 . I'll add the links to B&N, Kobo, etc. when they're available. This one continues the adventures of four couples in a Florida Over-55 RV park and, as advertised in the title, there are two crime threads. First, Ron & Julie are asked to see if they can pin down which man living at the park might be the guy who murdered two people back in 1967. While they're working on that, rumors circulate that someone's peeping in trailer windows at night. Of course there are humorous interactions between characters: husbands and wives, neighbor to neighbor, and senior citizens against the world. Shopping for lingerie, getting a confused old man to his doctor's appointment, and dealing with a guy who believes aliens run the government are everyday occurrences for the residents of the Beautiful Bird Over 55 RV Park.  ...

I said in my last post that the audio version of Once Upon a Trailer Park was due any day. I guess I should have said in many days. Through some sort of snafu, Audible didn't release the book until YESTERDAY, which is weeks and weeks after it should have happened. If you were waiting, I apologize for the delay. If you'd like a code to listen to it free , just let me know in the comments and I'll help you out. The book is still fun, even if late December turned into early February!

A B I'm looking at covers for my new series, which is set in a trailer park in Florida. The first book will be out in December and has a Christmas theme. We're down to 2 cover choices, so give me your input, please. (You can mix it up, like the font for the author name from B but the color from A.

The 6th Sleuth Sisters Mystery, PERIL, PLOTS, and PUPPIES, just went live as an e-book on Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and all other major e-book distributors. Still waiting on news from the studio in Chicago about the audio version. I know it's in production, I just don't know what phase.

Peril, Plots, and Puppies, the 6th Sleuth Sisters Mystery, is currently in production as an audio book at Cerny American in Chicago. It's always interesting to be part of the process, and though I'm far away, I have some responsibilities. Of course I can choose the people who read my books. Since I've been happy with all the earlier audiobooks, I'm happy to stick with the Cernys. I did learn that the actress who reads Faye is no longer available, so I had to okay a new narrator for that segment. Her audition was good, and I think the books will continue to move well from pages to audio files. I also try to give the narrators a list of words that Michiganders know well but others might not, place names like Mackinac, items common here but not in Chicago like pasties, and in the case of this book, German dog commands. Now I know they can look that up, but why should they have to when I have a friend who taught German for decades? She kindly provided me with phonetics...

I have three weeks to make sure everything is AOK for the 6th Sleuth Sisters Mystery, Peril, Plots, and Puppies. I think I'm ready. Preorders are available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Peril-Plots-Puppies-Sisters-Mystery-ebook/dp/B078V8X9J6 It will be available from all ebook providers, B&N, Kobo, etc. Print version is coming along. Reviewers are pre-reading (they like that). I'm sure there are things I should be doing, but I can't think of what they'd be. In this book, the sisters take on two cases: shutting down a puppy mill and finding a murderer. Neither their client nor the puppy mill owner is fun to deal with, and the added complication is that Barb was seen near the murder scene, doing a Correction Event as the Grammar Nazi. Each sister has her own concerns, but of course they come together when it's time for Sister Power.

One of the criticisms I hear of Audible is how expensive audio books are, and I sympathize. Many of my fans save credits or scrimp to buy my newest book, and it's discouraging for authors, who know a new listener probably isn't going to risk $20 plus to try her book. Lately they seem to be getting it, and I have had two hopeful signs. One is that they put my old MACBETH'S NIECE release (written as Peg Herring) into a special romance category that gives readers a price break. The other is that they're having a sale this week (Feb. 18 to 25) on "First of a Series" books, and they included THE SLEUTH SISTERS for less than $6.95 (whatever that means!) That means if you haven't heard Judy, Laura, and Anne perform as Retta, Barb, and Faye, you get a bargain chance. https://www.audible.com/pd/Mysteries-Thrillers/The-Sleuth-Sisters-Audiobook/B00MW75YF0  And since Book #6 is in the works, you'll have some enjoyable listening ahead!

It's a terrifying thing for an author to say, "I will have this book ready on..." A hundred objections come to mind: what if I hate it? what if the editor hates it? what if, what if, what if? Still, there comes a time, and it's here. Peril, Plots, and Puppies is slated for March 23, and you can pre-order it here: https://www.amazon.com/Peril-Plots-Puppies-Sisters-Mystery-ebook/dp/B078V8X9J6 If you've missed any of the former books, you've got two months to get caught up!

Working Cover Files If you keep up with my adventures, you know I was conflicted about a sixth Sleuth Sisters book. I do NOT want to be the author who stretches a series beyond logic, and I feel strongly that if I'm not interested in the plot, my readers won't be either. That was reinforced this past week as I read a book by one of my favorite authors, who has a long-running series I've always liked. The new story was beyond belief, with the detective getting naked in front of a crowd of people to force a confrontation that made very little sense and wasn't believable, at least for me. I never want the Maggie Pill name attached to a book just to have a new one out there. With that said, I found myself interested in the sisters again somewhere in August, and the questions began. What if Barb is caught, or almost caught, doing her Grammar Nazi thing? What if it's because there's a murder nearby, so the Nazi is a suspect? That was the germ of the idea for Boo...

If you read the last few weeks' entries, you know the scenario for the next (5th!) Sleuth Sisters Mystery. Now we need a title. Here are the basics: Still three sisters Setting is a winery on the Leelanau Peninsula north of Traverse City, MI Case is investigating the possibility of "turning" the wife of a drug lord into an FBI informant Venue is a retreat for 50-plus women who aren't "liberated" and don't want to be Focus is a fashion show that will conclude the weekend and launch the fashion design career of the drug lord's long-suffering wife Witnessing a murder begins a tough time for Faye and Retta  Possible titles: Wine, Women, and Murder Girls' Weekend for Murder Dying to Be Chic I'm not in love with any of those, so if you have an idea, send it along--please!

I told them I won't go. FBI or not, I can't stomach a full weekend of women gushing about spa treatments and this fall's must-have base color. Twaddle, as my Cornish co-worker used to say. If Faye is willing to accompany Retta and chat up this Dina Engel woman, good for her. I've looked into the situation and spoken with the FBI agent in charge. It isn't a dangerous assignment, since the woman's drug king/husband shows little interest in her new career and will remain in Detroit. The agent simply needs a couple of over-fifty women who fit in with Love-able Ladies (yes, they really do add the hyphen), and Lars suggested us. Retta certainly fits the profile of a Love-able Ladies groupie, and Faye will be her chaperone. I don't think they can possibly get into any trouble.

Retta told you about the case on the Leelanau Peninsula. We're looking into the possibility of turning a drug lord's wife into an FBI informant. It seemed odd to me at first, since the woman has been married to the guy for decades, but the agent in charge says she seems to have changed over the last year or so. She's starting a fashion design business, and for the first time ever, appearing in public on her own. He thinks it means she's sick of the thug life. I guess that could be true, but my theory is that in this world of opportunism, the publicity would be a huge help in launching her business. Either way, we're going to attend the retreat where she will do a "mini-reveal" (I know, who cares?) of her new line of clothing for "mature" women. My comment on that? If your husband doesn't love you with lumps, he never really loved you in the first place.